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What Is A PHP File?

PHP files contain PHP code that is executed on the server to dynamically generate web page content. PHP code can connect to databases, collect form data, generate images/PDFs, and more. Some key benefits of PHP include being free, able to run on many platforms/servers, supporting many databases, and being relatively easy to learn. Basic PHP syntax involves opening and closing PHP tags <?php ?> to embed PHP code within HTML documents. Variables in PHP are prefixed with $ and are dynamically typed. PHP provides various ways to output text and variable values to the browser using echo and print statements.

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Jeremiah Elior
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
311 views

What Is A PHP File?

PHP files contain PHP code that is executed on the server to dynamically generate web page content. PHP code can connect to databases, collect form data, generate images/PDFs, and more. Some key benefits of PHP include being free, able to run on many platforms/servers, supporting many databases, and being relatively easy to learn. Basic PHP syntax involves opening and closing PHP tags <?php ?> to embed PHP code within HTML documents. Variables in PHP are prefixed with $ and are dynamically typed. PHP provides various ways to output text and variable values to the browser using echo and print statements.

Uploaded by

Jeremiah Elior
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is a PHP File?

PHP files can contain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP code
PHP code are executed on the server, and the result is returned to the browser as
plain HTML
PHP files have extension ".php"

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What Can PHP Do?


PHP can generate dynamic page content
PHP can create, open, read, write, delete, and close files on the server
PHP can collect form data
PHP can send and receive cookies
PHP can add, delete, modify data in your database
PHP can be used to control user-access
PHP can encrypt data

With PHP you are not limited to output HTML. You can output images, PDF files, and even
Flash movies. You can also output any text, such as XHTML and XML.

Why PHP?
PHP runs on various platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.)
PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)
PHP supports a wide range of databases
PHP is free. Download it from the official PHP resource: www.php.net
PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

Basic PHP Syntax


A PHP script can be placed anywhere in the document.

A PHP script starts with <?php and ends with ?>:

<?php
// PHP code goes here
?>
Short tag

<?

PHP Code comes here


?>

HTML Scripting tag

<script lang=php>PHP Code Comes here </script>

The default file extension for PHP files is ".php".

A PHP file normally contains HTML tags, and some PHP scripting code.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My first PHP page</h1>

<?php
echo "Hello World!";
?>

</body>
</html>

Note: PHP statements end with a semicolon (;)

Comments in PHP
A comment in PHP code is a line that is not read/executed as part of the program. Its only
purpose is to be read by someone who is looking at the code.

Comments can be used to:

Let others understand what you are doing


Remind yourself of what you did - Most programmers have experienced coming back
to their own work a year or two later and having to re-figure out what they did.
Comments can remind you of what you were thinking when you wrote the code

PHP supports several ways of commenting:


Example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<?php
// This is a single-line comment

# This is also a single-line comment

/*
This is a multiple-lines comment block
that spans over multiple
lines
*/

// You can also use comments to leave out parts of a code line
$x = 5 /* + 15 */ + 5;
echo $x;
?>

</body>
</html>

PHP Case Sensitivity


In PHP, all keywords (e.g. if, else, while, echo, etc.), classes, functions, and user-defined
functions are NOT case-sensitive.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<?php
ECHO "Hello World!<br>";
echo "Hello World!<br>";
EcHo "Hello World!<br>";
?>

</body>
</html>
However; all variable names are case-sensitive.

In the example below, only the first statement will display the value of the $color variable
(this is because $color, $COLOR, and $coLOR are treated as three different variables):

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<?php
$color = "red";
echo "My car is " . $color . "<br>";
echo "My house is " . $COLOR . "<br>";
echo "My boat is " . $coLOR . "<br>";
?>

</body>
</html>
PHP VARIBLES
Creating (Declaring) PHP Variables

In PHP, a variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable:

<?php
$txt = "Hello world!";
$x = 5;
$y = 10.5;
?>

After the execution of the statements above, the variable $txt will hold the value Hello
world!, the variable $x will hold the value 5, and the variable $y will hold the value 10.5.

Note: When you assign a text value to a variable, put quotes around the value.

Note: Unlike other programming languages, PHP has no command for declaring a variable.
It is created the moment you first assign a value to it.
PHP Varibles:

A variable can have a short name (like x and y) or a more descriptive name (age, carname,
total_volume).

Rules for PHP variables:

A variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable
A variable name must start with a letter or the underscore character
A variable name cannot start with a number
A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores (A-z, 0-
9, and _ )
Variable names are case-sensitive ($age and $AGE are two different variables)

Remember that PHP variable names are case-sensitive!

Output Variables
The PHP echo statement is often used to output data to the screen.

The following example will show how to output text and a variable:

<?php
$txt = "technosoft";
echo "I love $txt!";
?>

Example 2:

<?php
$txt = "technosoft";
echo "I love " . $txt . "!";
?>

output the sum of two variables

<?php
$x = 5;
$y = 4;
echo $x + $y;
?>
PHP is a Loosely Typed Language
In the example above, notice that we did not have to tell PHP which data type the variable
is.

PHP automatically converts the variable to the correct data type, depending on its value.

In other languages such as C, C++, and Java, the programmer must declare the name and
type of the variable before using it

PHP Variables Scope


In PHP, variables can be declared anywhere in the script.

The scope of a variable is the part of the script where the variable can be referenced/used.

PHP has three different variable scopes:

local
global
static

Global and Local Scope


A variable declared outside a function has a GLOBAL SCOPE and can only be accessed
outside a function:

<?php
$x = 5; // global scope

function myTest() {
// using x inside this function will generate an error
echo "<p>Variable x inside function is: $x</p>";
}
myTest();

echo "<p>Variable x outside function is: $x</p>";


?>
A variable declared within a function has a LOCAL SCOPE and can only be accessed within
that function:

<?php
function myTest() {
$x = 5; // local scope
echo "<p>Variable x inside function is: $x</p>";
}
myTest();

// using x outside the function will generate an error


echo "<p>Variable x outside function is: $x</p>";
?>

PHP The global Keyword


The global keyword is used to access a global variable from within a function.

To do this, use the global keyword before the variables (inside the function):

<?php
$x = 5;
$y = 10;

function myTest() {
global $x, $y;
$y = $x + $y;
}

myTest();
echo $y; // outputs 15
?>
PHP also stores all global variables in an array called $GLOBALS[index]. The index holds the
name of the variable. This array is also accessible from within functions and can be used to
update global variables directly.

The example above can be rewritten like this:

<?php
$x = 5;
$y = 10;

function myTest() {
$GLOBALS['y'] = $GLOBALS['x'] + $GLOBALS['y'];
}

myTest();
echo $y; // outputs 15
?>

HP The static Keyword


Normally, when a function is completed/executed, all of its variables are deleted. However,
sometimes we want a local variable NOT to be deleted. We need it for a further job.

To do this, use the static keyword when you first declare the variable:

<?php
function myTest() {
static $x = 0;
echo $x;
$x++;
}

myTest();
myTest();
myTest();
?>

Then, each time the function is called, that variable will still have the information it
contained from the last time the function was called.

Note: The variable is still local to the function.


PHP 5 echo and print Statements

In PHP there are two basic ways to get output: echo and print.

PHP echo and print Statements


echo and print are more or less the same. They are both used to output data to the screen.

The differences are small: echo has no return value while print has a return value of 1 so it
can be used in expressions. echo can take multiple parameters (although such usage is
rare) while print can take one argument. echo is marginally faster than print.

The PHP echo Statement


The echo statement can be used with or without parentheses: echo or echo().

Display TextThe following example shows how to output text with the echo command
(notice that the text can contain HTML markup):

<?php
echo "<h2>PHP is Fun!</h2>";
echo "Hello world!<br>";
echo "I'm about to learn PHP!<br>";
echo "This ", "string ", "was ", "made ", "with multiple parameters.";
?>

Display Variables

The following example shows how to output text and variables with the echo statement:

<?php
$txt1 = "Learn PHP";
$txt2 = " technosoft";
$x = 5;
$y = 4;

echo "<h2>" . $txt1 . "</h2>";


echo "Study PHP at " . $txt2 . "<br>";
echo $x + $y;
?>
The PHP print Statement
The print statement can be used with or without parentheses: print or print().

Display Text

The following example shows how to output text with the print command (notice that the
text can contain HTML markup):

<?php
print "<h2>PHP is Fun!</h2>";
print "Hello world!<br>";
print "I'm about to learn PHP!";
?>

Display Variables

The following example shows how to output text and variables with the print statement:

<?php
$txt1 = "Learn PHP";
$txt2 = "Technosoft";
$x = 5;
$y = 4;

print "<h2>" . $txt1 . "</h2>";


print "Study PHP at " . $txt2 . "<br>";
print $x + $y;
?>

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